Driver on school bus route allegedly DUI

Thursday

W. HOLMES DISTRICT -- Allegations that a substitute bus driver was drunk when he drove a bus filled with students home from school last week are being investigated by the school and law enforcement.

Kenyon L. Conner, 53, of Monroe Township Road 254, is a substitute driver for the West Holmes District and was called in to replace a full-time driver for an afternoon route.

Conner's route Thursday was along state Routes 39 and 83, and as he was driving high school students noticed something was wrong with his driving. Many students began calling or texting their parents who then contacted the bus garage.

"He kept repeating himself. It took him a while to start driving. He kept swerving. He kept closing his eyes. You could see it in the mirror," said freshman Kassi Baker.

"We told him to open his eyes, and he said, 'Do you guys want to walk home?'"

At one point, when Conner slammed on the brakes, Baker said she and several others flew forward and crashed their heads into the seats in front of them. "It was not too bad. I had a headache."

Baker contacted her mother.

"At first I thought she was joking ... until she said she was really scared," said her mother, Jen Wiggs, who immediately contacted the bus garage.

Another parent actually stopped the driver and rode along on the bus throughout the remainder of the route. Conner had completed about half of his route at the time the parent boarded and he was instructed to finish the route and return to the garage, according to Superintendent Kris Perone.

Baker said Conner told the parent he wasn't drunk and refused to pick up calls from the bus garage. At the urging of the parent he eventually called in and "told them he didn't feel good."

With the parent as a passenger, Conner's driving improved, Baker said.

Perone said despite the complaints being made, the best course of action was to try to get the kids home as soon as possible.

"I can tell you that... in any case, getting kids to safety and getting them secure (is our priority) and the sooner we can do that the better... that response time, in hindsight, should have been sooner," Perone said. "Why we decided to let him finish, the plan was how to get things in place, not to let him keep going but how to get him done and get the bus covered and we struggled how to handle this part. Part of the problem, too, is it's happening very quickly."

Perone said no one at the garage detected anything out of the ordinary that would suggest Conner was not fit to perform his duties.

Wiggs concedes it may not be reasonable to test all drivers before each route, but her main concern was the safe return of the students. And considering the numerous upset students and parent phone calls, she said, she questions the decision to allow him to continue driving the bus.

Her concern motivated her to call Clark Elementary School where her younger daughter, Mia, was next to board the same bus. She instructed Principal Renee Woods to keep Mia from boarding, and it was at the elementary school Conner's ride eventually ended.

The state has guidelines as far as where it is safe for school buses to pull off to the side of the road. Perone said perhaps a better option would have been to find a safe location for Conner to pull over until someone could relieve him of his duties.

When Conner left the bus, he was taken without incident to Pomerene Hospital to undergo testing by one of West Holmes mechanics, as per the district's policy.

Holmes County Sheriff Timothy Zimmerly said his office received no calls until Conner was at the hospital. Because all his deputies were tied up on other calls, the matter was referred to the Wooster Post of the State Highway Patrol.

Hospital staff provided verbal confirmation to the trooper that Conner tested positive for alcohol, according to patrol Sgt. Ty Richmond, noting official test results, including the quantitative blood-alcohol content, are pending.

Because Conner was at the hospital, he voluntarily submitted to a urine test. The trooper did not observe any traffic violation and was not investigating a crash, so Conner was not arrested, said Richmond, noting the incident is being investigated with the cooperation of the West Holmes District.

Once completed, the case will be forwarded to the Holmes County Prosecutor's Office for consideration of charges, which could include not only traffic violations, including driving while intoxicated, but child endangering.

With respect to the bus route, the district had another mechanic fill in for Conner for the remainder of the day.

Conner was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol in May 1989. Although that conviction was known by district officials, there was nothing handed down by the state department during the background checks that flagged Conner as a potential threat.

"I had absolutely no comments to me about a concern of him concerning this, that this was a problem," Perone said. "Are there other things that I could have looked at? Yes. If someone said something to me that this should be an issue or a concern that would have been a red flag."

Conner underwent all of the background checks according to state guidelines as well as receiving his commercial drivers license. Just like all of the full-time drivers, substitute drivers are subject to random drug and alcohol testing. None of Conner's tests in the past had ever yielded a positive result.

In his history with driving for the district, Perone said Conner had received a few behavioral complaints from parents regarding his interaction with students on the bus, but none were of such a significant nature that would warrant his termination.

Perone called the parents of each child who was on the bus to explain what happened and to reassure them this was an isolated incident the district fully intends to never allow to happen again.

"We feel very fortunate that no one was hurt and that is the blessing part in all of this," Perone said. "We are going to go back through and figure out what changes we can make or what we can do that would help in a future situation. I apologize to parents that their children were exposed to this."

Much of her time in the past few days has been dedicated to the investigation, but Perone already has some changes in mind but declined to share those at this time. Following a meeting with all involved parties where they can discuss ways to prevent something from happening again, changes will likely come.

"We practice fire drills to get kids to safety faster. This circumstance, that is something that we need to improve on," Perone said, noting policies and procedures change as things happen that require changes. "We had a plan before and now we'll try to have a better plan."

Reporters Christine Pratt and Jeff Canning can be reached at 330-674-5676 or cpratt@the-daily-record.com and jcanning@the-daily-record.com.

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